Euro 96 Revisited – Day 2
There were three matches played out today in the second day of the 1996 European Championships.
Two of the matches took place in Yorkshire – at Elland Road and Hillsborough – and the other was at Old Trafford in Manchester.
Spain and Bulgaria played out a 1-1 draw at Leeds United’s Elland Road ground in the first of the games.
The Bulgarians had reached the Semi-Finals of the World Cup in USA two years ago and could be a dark horse in the tournament. They have one of the best players in Europe in Hristo Stoichkov and it was he who opened the scoring after 65 minutes from the penalty spot.
Stoichkov placed his penalty hard and low off the inside of the post, giving former Barcelona team-mate Andoni Zubizaretta no chance in the Spanish goal.
Spain were level within ten minutes through Real Betis striker Alfonso. The Spaniards had a free-kick twenty yards from goal. Abelardo hammered the ball hard at goal but it ricocheted off the Bulgarian wall before Sergei hit the ball back into a congested penalty area.
Alfonso reacted the quickest and stuck out a foot, deflecting the ball past Bulgarian goalkeeper Borislav Mihaylov and into the back of the net.
Tournament favourites Germany beat Czech Republic 2-0 at Old Trafford with goals from Christian Ziege and Andreas Moller.
Both goals were carbon copies of each other, as both players cut in from the left before hitting low right-footed shots into the near post.
Group D began at Hillsborough in Sheffield with a 1-1 draw between holders Denmark and Portugal.
Brian Laudrup capitalised on a mistake by Portugal goalkeeper Vitor Baia to open the scoring midway through the first half.
The Porto goalkeeper tried to clear the ball downfield but the ball hit Danish striker Mikkel Beck before spinning off across the penalty area. Laudrup got to the ball first, cut inside and hit the ball hard and low inside the near post to give Victor Baia no chance.
Sa Pinto headed in an equaliser after 53 minutes to level the game and that the game ended all-square.
One thing that was quite noticeable was the amount of empty seats dotted around the three stadiums this afternoon. None of the games were sell-outs as was the case at Wembley yesterday. This is probably due to the fact that hosts England weren’t in action but it is still a worry.
There are two games tomorrow. Scotland play against a strong Dutch side at Villa Park in the second Group A game and Romania play France at Newcastle United’s St James’s Park.
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